Rice Sets Early Decision Record; Lowers Freshman Class Size

CONTACT: Michael Cinelli

PHONE: (713)
831-4794

E-MAIL: mcinelli@rice.edu

RICE SETS EARLY DECISION RECORD; LOWERS FRESHMAN CLASS
SIZE

A record number of early decision applications have
been received in the Rice University Admission Office as the fall recruitment
season draws to a close.

More than 430 high school seniors opted to submit an early decision
application to Rice this fall, an increase of 25 percent from last year’s pool
of 345. It is the largest group to use the early decision process in the
university’s history, said Julie Browning, director of admission.

“We expanded our recruiting efforts this year,” Browning said, “and we
produced new and improved publications, which had an impact on our raising the
interest level of Rice among high school seniors.”

Early decision or early action programs have become increasingly popular
among high school students vying for a place in the nation’s most selective
schools. A survey of Rice’s major competitors&emdash;Stanford, Harvard, MIT,
Princeton, Yale, Duke and Cornell&emdash;shows that all of these schools are
up on early decision or early action applications.

Only Rice and Stanford, however, reported increases greater than 10 percent.

The Admission Office expects this to be a highly competitive year for high
school students seeking to enroll at Rice next fall because the size of next
year’s freshman class will be significantly smaller, Browning said.

“Our overall enrollment figures are higher than usual this year largely
because of a higher percentage of students accepting our offers of admission,”
she explained. “Therefore, the president has decided that the freshman class of
1998-1999 will be limited to 635. This year we enrolled 704 freshmen.”

The reduced class size for the coming year was determined by the president
following a series of meetings that included representatives from the Admission
Office, College Masters, the Budget Office, Student Affairs, the Registrar,
Athletics, and Food and Housing.

“The demand for a Rice education remains very strong,” said Rice President
Malcolm Gillis. “But we are committed to maintaining our present size.”

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